Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky #2)(24)

“On those nights, usually he’d be yelling within the first hour. It got worse from there. Vale hid in the loft. Liv crawled under the table. I bore it. And that was how it went. Everyone knew, but no one did anything. When I was broken and blue, they accepted it. I accepted it. I told myself there was no better way. We needed him as Blood Lord. And he was the only parent we had. Without him, we wouldn’t have had anything.”

She knew too well how that felt. Every day since her mother had died, she’d struggled with the idea that she didn’t have anything.

Perry shook his head. “Maybe this won’t make sense, but I feel like the Aether’s the same way. We think we need this … this land. This house. This room.... But it’s not the right way to live. We lost acres last night to fires, and a man I’ve known my entire life almost died. I almost did.”

She closed the space between them in a shot and took his hands, holding on as tight as she could. As tight as she would have if she’d been at the jetty. He let out a slow breath, staring into her eyes, his grip just as tight as hers.

“We lose and lose, but we’re still here. Shaking in place, afraid of doing something. I’m tired of settling for this because I don’t know if something better exists. It has to. What point is there otherwise? I can do something about it now. And I will.”

He blinked, the intensity in his eyes vanishing as he shifted back to the present. He laughed at himself. “That was a lot. Anyway …” He lifted an eyebrow. “You’re pretty quiet.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him. “Because there isn’t a word for how perfect that was.”

Perry tucked her closer, his shoulders molding around her. They clung to each other, his chest solid and warm against hers. After a moment, he bent by her ear and whispered, “Was it champ?”

It was a word from her world, and she could tell he was smiling.

“Very. It was very champ.” She drew back and stared into his eyes. As much as he kept to himself, he cared so deeply for others. He was a force. He was good. “You amaze me.”

“I don’t know why. You’re getting Talon back. And you’re helping your people. It’s no different from what I’m doing.”

“It’s different. Hess is—”

He shook his head. “You’d be doing all the same things even if he weren’t blackmailing you. Maybe you’re not sure about that, but I am.” His hand brushed past her cheek and slid into her hair. “We’re the same, Aria.”

“That’s the best thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

He smiled and leaned down, kissing her softly, tenderly. She knew she should step away. This was a risk, but she didn’t care about anything except him just then. She wove her arms around his neck and parted his lips with hers, stealing a taste of him. Tenderness could wait for another time.

Perry went still for an instant; then he cinched her close, momentum sending them thudding into the door behind him. He sank against it, bringing himself closer to her height, kissing her with a sudden urgency. With a hunger that she matched. His lips moved to her neck and trailed up to her ear, and the world fell away. She gasped and dug her fingers into his shoulders, pulling him closer—

His shoulder.

She remembered, and her hands relaxed. “Which shoulder was it, Perry?”

A grin spread over his lips. “Right now I have no idea.”

His eyes were heavy with desire, but she saw something else. A gleam that made her suspicious.

“What?” she asked.

His hands slid to her hips. “You’re incredible.”

“That’s not what you were thinking.”

“Was so. I always think that.” He leaned in, twisting a strand of her hair around his finger as he kissed her bottom lip. “But I was also wondering what you were doing around Butter today.”

Aria laughed. That was attractive. She smelled like horse. “Do you ever miss anything?”

Perry smiled. “You, all the time.”





11



PEREGRINE


Perry drew the blade across his palm, slicing his skin. Making a fist over the small copper pot on the table, he let a few drops of his blood fall.

“On my blood as Lord of the Tides, I recognize you as an Audile and warrant that you should be Marked.”

Perry didn’t recognize the sound of his own voice—sure and formal—or the words he spoke, which had always belonged to Vale or his father. He lifted his gaze and scanned the crowded hall. Against Reef’s advice, he’d ordered all the regular trappings of a Marking Ceremony. Incense at each table put off fragrant cedar smoke to represent Scires. Torches and candles blazed, washing the cookhouse in light to honor the Seers. For the Auds, drummers beat a steady rhythm at the far end. Unlike last night’s cold and wet and fear, now the hall was filled with the comfort of tradition. He’d been right to do this. The Tides needed it as much as he and Aria did.

Aria stood just a few paces in front of him. She’d pulled her black hair up, and her neck looked slender and delicate. Her cheeks were flushed pink, whether from nerves or the heat of the hall, Perry wasn’t sure.

Did she think this ritual was savage? Did she want Markings, or were they just a necessity to get the location of the Still Blue? He hadn’t had the chance to ask earlier, and now it was too late. He couldn’t tell how she felt. With the cedar and smoke and hundreds of people, her scent was lost to him.